Another rather poorly worded statement from the prime minister, to say the very least…
Andrej Plenković has become somewhat known for his not so PC statements, his brutal roasts and his rather astounding arrogance. While he is indeed a highly intelligent man, with a glamorous Brussels career behind him and a comfortable (well, relatively) role as HDZ’s top man, Plenky, as he is so lovingly referred to, is no stranger to putting his foot in his mouth, and then defending the act, as opposed to either forgetting it or simply admitting to a wrong choice of words. When he isn’t busy turning the heat on and grilling his opponents and nay-sayers in parliament, he’s out doing… well, who knows. One thing he is, is uncompromising with his choices, beliefs, and… much to his detriment, his words. His most recent comment, about how in Africa, people would go crazy to have Croatian standards, is just one in a long line of ”what not to say”. As Index writes on the 25th of June, 2018, Andrej Plenković listened to the mass conducted by Bozanić, in which he talked about, among other things, something that could have easily been interpreted as criticism of the government.
“As a civil servant of the Church, I’m making no pretense about entering into professional judgement, other people are called upon for that. I’ll just mention some questions that are being repeated so much: Does our legislation protect the small guy’s business, or the interest groups and the chains of the powerful capital? Why do so many attempts made in good faith end up being confronted by incomprehensible obstacles and then people discouragingly have to give up? Is Croatian society facing up, institutionally, seriously, and politically, effectively to the demographic crisis we’re experiencing?” asked Bozanić.
Plenković said that it’s always good to hear encouragement, and that three messages of conscience, hope, and remaining in the Republic of Croatia are something we all share, before noting that demographic problems in Croatia aren’t something new.
“This trend is inherent to many countries in Europe, which is one of the fundamental issues, and yesterday we spent some time talking about that, you have huge demographic plus trends in the countries of Africa and the Middle East, where there is a completely different situation, there is such a poverty that everyone would cry out to have the standard we have in Croatia,” stated Plenković, rather unhelpfully.
Well, as insulting and totally unnecessary as the prime minister’s rather unusual comment was, it seems he might not be far wrong, at least according to Sim Shagaya on Twitter, And yes, that is sarcasm.
Whatever will Plenky come out with next? Stay tuned.
